Then

February natural gas futures hit the ground running Monday following a weekend forecast for some extended cold throughout the eastern half of the United States. After gapping higher to open Monday’s trading well above psychological resistance at $7, the prompt month put in a high of $7.340 before settling at $7.319, up 43.3 cents from Friday’s close.

Pacific Gas & Electric issued a systemwide Stage 2 high-inventory OFO for Monday, lifted it Tuesday and then issued a new one for Wednesday. Both OFOs carried penalties of $1/Dth for positive daily imbalances exceeding a 5% tolerance.

Southern California Gas said Monday that due to high inventories in its storage fields, it had reduced injection capacity by 60 MMcf/d. Then in a Tuesday update it said another 17 MMcf/d of injection was lost because of electrical repairs to the No. 8 main unit at its Playa Del Rey field.

Pacific Gas & Electric kept a systemwide high-inventory OFO in effect through Sunday before lifting it Monday. Then the utility declared a customer-specific OFO for Tuesday. PG&E also noted late last week that it has suspended pipeline balancing storage injections “because the entire inventory reserved for pipeline balancing has been exceeded.” As a result, the utility’s California Gas Transmission (CGT) system is looking at calling late afternoon OFOs as a way to manage ongoing overdeliveries that exceed demand. “When an OFO is necessary, CGT makes every effort to call the OFO by 7:30 a.m. Pacific time the day prior to the gas flow day, using a forecast of demand and scheduled supply. However, the forecast of system conditions at 7:30 a.m. does not always indicate the necessity for an OFO. When subsequent changes in system demand and/or scheduled supply necessitate some inventory control action, CGT’s two options are either to call an OFO later in the day or hold the interconnect constraints in a nomination cycle to the constraints which existed in a previous cycle. Customers have indicated a strong preference for CGT to call OFOs rather than holding to interconnect constraints. Therefore, we will consider calling an OFO as late as 6 p.m. Pacific time for the following gas day. We anticipate that calling an OFO, if deemed necessary, after reviewing the evening cycle nominations may reduce the need to hold the interconnect constraints to control pipeline system inventory.”

Andrew Fastow, who as CFO guided Enron Corp.’s finances to the heights of success and then to its spectacular fall, was sentenced Tuesday to six years in prison and two years of community service. Fastow, 44, had faced a maximum 10 years in prison under a plea agreement he made with prosecutors two-and-a-half years ago (see NGI, Jan. 19, 2004).

Andrew Fastow, who as CFO guided Enron Corp.’s finances to the heights of success and then to its spectacular fall, was sentenced Tuesday to six years in prison and two years of community service. Fastow, 44, had faced a maximum 10 years in prison under a plea agreement he made with prosecutors two-and-a-half years ago (see Daily GPI, Jan. 15, 2004).

Southern California Gas kept a high-linepack OFO issued for Friday in effect through Sunday, then lifted it Monday.

Southern California Gas kept a high-linepack OFO that it had declared for Saturday in place through Sunday, then lifted it Monday.

Agrium Inc., which has been searching for more than a year for ways to secure natural gas supplies for its Nikiski nitrogen plant in Kenai, AK, said Thursday it has begun a detailed feasibility review on the proposed Kenai Blue Sky Coal Gasification Project. If the project is completed, it could be operational by 2011.